RR Auction’s Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale on October 14, 2026 featured Hilda Payin’s 200‑signature scrapbook, a 9‑by‑12‑inch hardcover album that chronicles the 1930s‑40s American zeitgeist.
The album holds cards and photographs signed by baseball legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, inventor Thomas Edison, composer George Gershwin, and 38 others, including Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Catalogue notes list 200 signatures, signed photographs, and correspondence, many addressed personally to Payin, adding provenance to the collection.
RR Auction estimated the lot at more than $20,000; the final hammer price of $28,759, including a 12% buyer’s premium, exceeded expectations, auctioneer Michael Smith said.
The buyer has not yet disclosed identity but plans to loan the album to a museum next year, Smith said, citing the collection’s historical significance.